for sure ourselves. But those statistics, which the importing country
confirmed were accurate when we queried them, did show that in one year
the importing country exported a bit more than it produced and imported
about as much as it exported. So when you calculated the level of
consumption, or the size of the market if you prefer to call it that,
by adding imports to production and then deducting exports, you arrived
at a consumption figure which was lower than the import level. Hence
the over 100% import penetration. The increase in production had
nothing to do with the degree of import penetration but was made
possible by an increase in exports.
This is perhaps an extreme case. But it is true and it
demolishes the whole "import penetration" argument. Those who are
putting forward this argument would, if they could get it accepted, ́
be able to preserve their home market and at the same time export as
much as they like. Because, if this idea was accepted then, if the
domestic market for a product was shrinking but the domestic industry
was exporting increased quantities, the import penetration percentage
could be rising, while domestic production sales and profits were
increasing too. But we should all be obliged to restrain our exports
even though the domestic industry was flourishing, because the import
penetration ratio was rising.
At the Textiles Committee meeting held last December the
Hong Kong delegation called for a re-affirmation by all participating
countries of their adherence to the objectives of the MFA in order to
ensure that its application and operation accorded fully with the true spirit and precise letter of the text. Many developed countries supported this - including some of those proposing to make the MFA more restrictive. One cannot help but feel that they were merely paying lip-
service to the objects of the NFA. For how can the FA achieve its
objectives of "expansion and diversification" of the developing countries' export earnings, and "expansion of trade", "reduction of barriers to such trade" and "progressive liberalisation of world trade in textiles products", if its provisions are to be changed in such a way as to further restrict the developing countries' access, and the growth of such access, to the markets of the developed world from which they earn the bulk of their export earnings? These proposals just cannot be reconciled with the objectives of the NFA as stated in the
}
/Preamble